A typology of first person dual pronouns and their reconstructibility in Philippine languages

• Main Author: Liao, Hsiu-chuan
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2008
• Subjects: Philippine languages—Pronoun; Filipino language—Person; South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/4478
• Institution: De La Salle University

This paper provides an overview of the distribution of first person dual pronouns in Philippine languages and addresses the issue as to whether or not first person dual pronouns can be reconstructed for the ancestral language of all Philippine languages. Based on data from different microgroups of Philippine languages, the following conclusions are reached. First, no first person dual pronouns can be reconstructed for the parent of the Philippine languages. Second, the wide distribution of first person dual pronouns in different microgroups of Philippine languages is due to drift rather than direct inheritance from the parent of the Philippine languages. © by University of Hawai'i Press. All rights reserved.